Mad rush of collectors enter store on street date. Mad rush of collectors see plethora of product. People start grabbing stuff like crazy, maybe even more than they anticipated because they don't want other collectors to grab the item, leaving none left.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is what Hasbro is aiming for (think of how much $$ Hasbro made in 2008's MM alone). The problem is they ship out new figures 3 months out in advance, and expect the stores to just let them sit back in the storerooms and collect dust. Now, if Hasbro perhaps shipped out the figures only a month or 2-3 weeks in advance, then there wouldn't be as many problems.

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I'm siding with what Jesse wrote back on page 3 ... a street date is a street date, and misguided in this case or not, it's really no different from putting out CDs, DVDs, etc before they're supposed to be sold. That **** would never fly in the electronics department, although I realize toys are much further down the priority list for store managers. But just because some stores have broken the street date (probably unintentionally on the part of lower-level employees) is no reason for Hasbro to just say "Screw it" and let them keep it all out on the pegs.

I don't really think the CD DVD comparison works on this one as it's a different animal altogether. With DVD and CD releases, the release dates are hyped up, like an event. You see them advertised all over the place, to the point where each store has a specific exclusive version of the item to entice you to buy from them. You know weeks to months in advance when that movie you're waiting for comes out. Most stores even have charts and posters advertising the dates. If the movie gets put out early, even a low level stock boy would probably notice pretty quickly. And at no time during the wait for these new films are there empty shelves being held back for these new items to be placed, they'll fill them with some other movie in the mean time. And even if that argument doesn't hold up, well, I'm pretty sure that CD's and DVD's aren't shipped to the stores months ahead of time to collect dust in the back room. Hasbro shipping these boxes to retailers so early is just asking for the street date to be broken. How many store managers just saw that there were empty pegs and told the stock boys to fill them, they might not have noticed the "do not put out" sign, they probably didn't even think of it, because since when do toys have release dates like movies? Although I agree that Hasbro doesn't have to say screw it, it's well within their right to make them take it down, I just don't think it's right to penalize stores that just might not have known any better. But who knows if they're even doing that, at this point it's just speculation and rumor. I like to think they have better things to do with their time.

I don't really think the CD DVD comparison works on this one as it's a different animal altogether. With DVD and CD releases, the release dates are hyped up, like an event. You see them advertised all over the place, to the point where each store has a specific exclusive version of the item to entice you to buy from them. You know weeks to months in advance when that movie you're waiting for comes out. Most stores even have charts and posters advertising the dates. If the movie gets put out early, even a low level stock boy would probably notice pretty quickly. And at no time during the wait for these new films are there empty shelves being held back for these new items to be placed, they'll fill them with some other movie in the mean time. And even if that argument doesn't hold up, well, I'm pretty sure that CD's and DVD's aren't shipped to the stores months ahead of time to collect dust in the back room. Hasbro shipping these boxes to retailers so early is just asking for the street date to be broken. How many store managers just saw that there were empty pegs and told the stock boys to fill them, they might not have noticed the "do not put out" sign, they probably didn't even think of it, because since when do toys have release dates like movies? Although I agree that Hasbro doesn't have to say screw it, it's well within their right to make them take it down, I just don't think it's right to penalize stores that just might not have known any better. But who knows if they're even doing that, at this point it's just speculation and rumor. I like to think they have better things to do with their time.

I could not agree more.In this economy, with people losing jobs all over the place, if you have something that somebody wants to buy, SELL it.

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not sure if it has been said or not - but, to me, you can't compare CD/DVD's to toys imo (I worked 3 years at Best Buy in that dept.). If not for many other reasons, the main reason imo, is that it is a standard for that product. Every CD/DVD has a release date and very rarely are they broken (Though I recall people were going insane when "The Fast and the Furious" brok street date).

Street dates are street dates... If there's a contractual agreement between manufacturer and retailer not to put things out by a certain date, that's not arguable.

I don't know that's the case of course... FOr all I know it's just slapped on the box and hoped that nothing's put out early. But assuming there is some agreement, it's to be adhered to, and any punishment agreed to in the contract is applicable. DVD's, CD's, new cars, deoderant, toys... That's all the same if there's an agreement made between the two entities.

Want toys all you want, say the economy is bad and so everyone should sell sell sell, harass the stockers at the store, but at the end of the day IF there was some agreement made, it was broken. *shrugs* That's just all there is to it guys.

I don't know if that's the case... Perhaps TRU broke it and Hasbro decided to open the flood gates for the other retailers that adhered to it? No clue really.

Not so fast. Ridgedale put them out, but the Target store 5 miles up the road refuses to bring out any of their four cases from the back and told me they won't bring them out for yet another week even though all the star wars pegs are set. Ridiculous. I drove another 10 miles up the road to Maple Grove and found at least 3 cases already out on the pegs...nice move Target. I think Jeff hit 5 stores already and got shot down as well - pretty ridiculous.

Not so fast. Ridgedale put them out, but the Target store 5 miles up the road refuses to bring out any of their four cases from the back and told me they won't bring them out for yet another week even though all the star wars pegs are set. Ridiculous. I drove another 10 miles up the road to Maple Grove and found at least 3 cases already out on the pegs...nice move Target. I think Jeff hit 5 stores already and got shot down as well - pretty ridiculous.

That's why I said, "for me". I was surprised to see them on the pegs. Nice to see the new packaging.

Our TRU must have just completely ignored the street date now (or got the go ahead, I'm never clear from all this e-mail/fine/etc. stuff), as they had everything out this morning. Two pegs full of vintage figures, the CW figures, the Legends (including the assortment with Hoth Han, Chewie, and Snowspeeder Luke), the figure/vehicle deluxe sets (wave 1 and 2), the Fett Helmet, the AT-AT, the starfighter vehicles, and the newer Galactic Heroes.

You can read the fuller experience in my purchase post, but to sum it up here, over the weekend, all of my 8 Targets started putting out the vintage figures. I really didn't hit any in the morning and never got a full set until today. However, the last Target to officially stock them took them out of my hand this morning when I found my first full case. They wanted to wait until the 6th.